Dust: a series of unfortunate events.

Once again I have been thwarted in my attempts to make my movie, and this time I have decided to postpone production for a while.

I think it is therefore worth me considering what has gone wrong so far (and indeed what has gone right) and what I have learnt from the whole experience.

Dust was written in first term here, and passed by the class for consideration. It received a fairly mediocre response. After doing a significant redraft, cutting out 30-40% of the material, I proposed it to Adam and Ros towards the end of 2nd term as a possibility for a TPA/DFTV collaboration. I had done a deal with Phil in that I would produce his "Lord of the Rings in 60 seconds" if he would produce "Dust", and there was a fairly solid group from both DFTV and TPA interested in getting involved in both projects.

However, the project did not meet with favour from "upstairs" and we decided to plough ahead on our own. We knew the last half of third term would be busy so decided to attempt it for the first three weeks of the term. Over Easter some work was done, but as Phil was away, some things were pushed back which should have been done then, most especially in terms of location recce's, risk assesments and gaining filming permission.

We hit the ground running after Easter. Our storyboards were done and auditions were successfully held on the first week. But then we started to run into difficulty as we began to plan shoots. Both Phil and myself have particularly busy lives. When this is combined with actors going into shows, TPA students working 9-9 five days a week, weekend jobs for half the cast and everyone in DFTV wanting to take out the camera kit, things ended up getting pushed further and further into term 3.

Tuesday 28th April was rehearsals for the project, and despite me feeling outclassed talent-wise by the two amazing actors I'd chosen from the auditionees, I felt the session was very useful in bringing them closer to how I had imagined my vision for each piece of the film.

Wednesday 29th April was a session of recording voice-over and additional dialogue, and despite my reservations, it went fine.

Wednesday 6th May (lunchtime) was our first scene to be shot. It was very simple. One shot. One actor. It went like a dream. No problems whatsoever. The acting was wonderful. The scenic art backdrop was very nice.

Monday 11th May was when things started to fall apart. This was supposed to be our shoot for two of the simpler external scenes. One actor. One location. But due to a breakdown in communication (new numbers, last minute clarification, no single individual in complete charge), the crew didn't realise something was happening and the actor turned up without any costume. So we had to abandon filming for the day.

Wednesday 13th May was a slight upturn on the project's fortunes. We managed a double location recce and also filmed two scenes. The second scene was particularly rushed. The lighting wasn't great and although I haven't had the chance to watch the footage back, I am unsure how it will turn out.

Friday 15th May was another big downturn. We were all ready to film two fairly major scenes in a shoot planned to run late into the evening. We were all assembled (with a new sound guy drafted in at the last minute) and we were poised to go, but after waiting a little to get kit from the kit room, we tried phoning the tutors. Only then did we discover that our emails had gone un-noticed and that they were both out of the building. With no way of getting the kit signed out, we had to stand down for a second shoot within a week.

On 21st May, Little Clown was commissioned and I was thrown into pre-production for that, concurrently with continued planning for Dust. In between each shoot, I am examining every day (every morning, lunchtime, afternoon, evening) for any slot where the required people are available simultaneously and the kit is available too. For example, our big shoot of six scenes, planned for a long time for the holiday on the 25th of May, was cancelled the moment Ray saw our kit request.

Following a hiatus, I tried again to film a scene tonight, 4th June. We had the crew together. We had the actor in costume and make up. We had the set dressed (it had taken 40 minutes of work by three bodies). We had the lights in place (sort of). We had the shot framed up. We tried to put the tape in. And.... no. Errors and warning lights and after further investigation a little piece of plastic that had somehow snapped and was now just dangling instead of playing its part. So the camera was packed away, the set was undressed, the make-up was wiped off, the actor and make-up lady drove off, the equipment was all put back in its boxes and we were back to where we started. Except now we have a broken camera to report. It wasn't us, honest...

I think my new plan is to postpone Dust until after my visit to the Edinburgh Film Festival. By then Little Clown will be over (from a Production point of view), the actors and artists should be free of other pressing commitments and classes for DFTV should have completely come to an end. We can see what can be accomplished in these last few days before term ends officially. But for now, Dust is put back in the box.









So what have I learnt?

1) Don't attempt extra-curricular projects in Term 3.
2) The producer must be focussed 100% on the project and must be taking the initiative in planning shoots. The producer must be communicating with all cast and crew. The director must step back and allow the producer to do this without interference. A daily update for all cast and crew from the producer is a good idea, though in a long running saga like Dust this could get wearisome quickly.